The Michigan Union is a student union at the University of Michigan. It is located at the intersection of South State Street and South University Avenue in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The building was built in 1917 and is one of several unions at the University of Michigan.
The Michigan Union was at first a student group rather than a building.[1] The Michigan Union formed in 1904 as "an 'all-inclusive organization' focused on providing feelings of unity for men on campus."[1] Its first meeting, at Waterman Gymnasium, drew more than 1,100 students.[1] The founders of the Michigan Union soon desired a home for the organization. In 1907, they purchased the former house of Judge Thomas M. Cooley, a longtime University of Michigan Law School professor on State Street at the end of South University Avenue.[1][2] Cooley's home was a "spacious, rambling fieldstone structure, with pointed gables."[2] After the Michigan Union acquired the Cooley home, Professor Emil Lorch of the Department of Architecture made alterations for adaptation as a clubhouse.[2] On the first floor was a large dining room, a smaller dining room, a large lounge, a game room, and a kitchen; on the second floor was a billiard room, a reading room, a directors' room, and an apartment for the steward.[2]
The Union soon outgrew the building, and in 1910, the Michigan Union hired the architect brothers Irving Kane Pond and Allen Bartlit Pond to design a new building.[1][2] The Union acquired two adjacent lots, one of which was owned by the Pond brothers.[2] In 1916, the Cooley house was demolished and construction began.[1] Funds for the building's construction were collected by collecting financial pledges.[1] The progress of construction soon lagged, however, due to the American entry into World War I.[1] While still unfinished, the building was used as a Students' Army Training Corps barracks and mess hall.[1] After the end of the First World War, the Union interior was finally completed, and the building officially opened in 1919.[1]
The original Union building included a variety of facilities: a basement bowling alley, a groundfloor barbershop and cafe, and various "lounges, reading rooms, committee rooms, dining rooms, a billiard and games room, an assembly room, and accommodations for returning alumni."[1] A swimming pool, planned for the building since its design, finally opened in 1925 after sufficient funds were collected to construct it.[1]
The Michigan Union originally was organized as a club with yearly dues of $2.50; the club was run by a board of directors with representation of students, faculty, and alumni.[1] "By 1914 there were over 4,000 members, which was a considerable portion of the University student body and indicative of the strength of the organization."[1] In 1918 the Regents authorized that the membership fee, then $3, be collected from all students.[1] The same year, the fee was increased to $5, and all male students automatically became Union Members.[1]
Originally, women were only allowed to enter the building through the North entrance and when accompanied by a male escort, due to the founders' belief that the women's center at that time was in "the parlors of the Barbour Gymnasium."[1]
Michigan Union
In 1929, the Michigan League, designed by the Pond brothers, was built on North University Avenue as the women's union.[1] In 1956, the policy of requiring escorts and of requiring women to enter through the North entrance was finally dropped.[1] In 1968, the last place in the Union to have such a policy, the Billiards Room, ended its policy and admitted women on an equal basis.[1]
Today, the Michigan Union houses restaurants, student organization office space, conference rooms, study areas, and other student resources. The Union is also an election precinct in state elections.
At the front steps of the Union, just above the main entrance, two statues stand on the left and the right. On the left is the athlete, facing towards south campus, home of the athletic fields and Michigan Stadium. To the right is the scholar, looking towards Central and North Campus, home of the student life of the University of Michigan.
In a speech delivered on the steps of the Michigan Union October 14, 1960 at 2:00 a.m., presidential candidate John F. Kennedy announced his Peace Corps proposal.[3] A plaque at the steps now commemorates the event.
Missouri State University, formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second largest university campus by enrollment, with an enrollment of 23,502 in the fall semester of 2020. The schools also operates a campus in West Plains, Missouri offering associate degrees. A bachelor's degree in business is offered at Liaoning Normal University in China. The university also operates a fruit research station in Mountain Grove, Missouri and a Department of Defense and Strategic Studies program in Fairfax, Virginia.
Marycrest College Historic District is located on a bluff overlooking the West End of Davenport, Iowa, United States. The district encompasses the campus of Marycrest College, which was a small, private collegiate institution. The school became Teikyo Marycrest University and finally Marycrest International University after affiliating with a private educational consortium during the 1990s. The school closed in 2002 because of financial shortcomings. The campus has been listed on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties and on the National Register of Historic Places since 2004. At the time of its nomination, the historic district consisted of 13 resources, including six contributing buildings and five non-contributing buildings. Two of the buildings were already individually listed on the National Register.
University Park is the name given to the Pennsylvania State University's main campus located in both State College and College Township, Pennsylvania. The campus post office was designated "University Park, Pennsylvania" in 1953 by Penn State president Milton Eisenhower, after what was then Pennsylvania State College was upgraded to university status.
Roosevelt University is a private university with campuses in Chicago, Peoria, Waukegan and Schaumburg, Illinois. Founded in 1945, the university is named in honor of both the late President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
A student center is a type of building found on university and some high school campuses. In the United States, such a building may also be called a student union, student commons, or union. The term "student union" refers most often in the United States to a building, while in other nations a "students' union" is the student government. Nevertheless, the Association of College Unions International has several hundred campus organizational members in the US; there is no sharp dichotomy in interpretation of union in this context. The US usage in reference to a location is simply a shortened form of student union building.
Coffman Memorial Union is a student union on the East Bank campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Situated near the Mississippi River, Coffman anchors the south end of Northrop Mall, a grassy area at the center of campus that is bordered by the university's physics, mathematics, chemistry, and administration buildings, plus Walter Library. Northrop Auditorium sits at the north end of the mall, opposite Coffman across Washington Avenue.
The Ohio Union serves as a student activity center for students of The Ohio State University. When the Union was established in 1910, it was the first student union at a public university. The Ohio Union provides facilities for student activities, organizations/events, and campus and community interaction. Many student services and programs are housed in the union, along with dining and recreational facilities. On March 29, 2010, the current Ohio Union was opened to the public, replacing three previous unions.
Marywood University is a Catholic liberal arts university in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Established in 1915 by the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Marywood currently enrolls more than 2,800 students in a variety of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs. The university has a national arboretum with more than 100 types of trees and shrubs.
The Boston University housing system is the 2nd-largest of any private university in the United States, with 76% of the undergraduate population living on campus. On-campus housing at BU is an unusually diverse melange, ranging from individual 19th-century brownstone town houses and apartment buildings acquired by the school to large-scale high-rises built in the 60s and 2000s.
The campus housing system at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, referred to as University Housing, provides living accommodations for approximately 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. There is no requirement for first-year students to live in University Housing, yet approximately 97% of incoming students choose to do so. Every year, over 9,500 undergraduate students are housed in 18 residence halls on Central Campus, the Hill Neighborhood, and North Campus. Undergraduates, graduate students, and students with families can live in University Housing apartments in the Northwood Community on North Campus. Seven full-service dining halls as well as several retail shops provide students with daily dining options.
The William Pitt Union, built in 1898 as the Hotel Schenley, is the student union building of the University of Pittsburgh main campus, and is a Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmark. Designed by Pittsburgh-based architects Rutan & Russell in the Beaux-Arts style of architecture, the Schenley Hotel catered to local and visiting well-to-do people. The University of Pittsburgh acquired the property in 1956.
North Campus is a residential section of Cornell University's Ithaca, New York campus. It primarily houses freshmen. North Campus offers programs which ease the transition into college life for incoming freshmen. The campus offers interactions with faculty and other programs designed to increase interaction among members of the freshman class. North Campus is part of Cornell's residential initiative.
Cleary University is a private business university in Michigan. The main campus is located in Livingston County, in Howell, Michigan. There is also an education center located in Detroit. Cleary University offers certificate, ABA, BBA, MS, and MBA programs.
Willard Straight Hall is the student union building on the central campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. It is located on Campus Road, adjacent to the Ho Plaza and Cornell Health.
Teviot Row House, or Teviot, is one of the student union buildings at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Run by Edinburgh University Students' Association (EUSA), the building in Bristo Square is the oldest purpose built student Union building in the world, having been opened in 1889.
The Danforth Campus is the main campus at Washington University in St. Louis. Formerly known as the Hilltop Campus, it was officially dedicated as the Danforth Campus on September 17, 2006, in honor of William H. Danforth, the 13th Chancellor of the University, the Danforth family and the Danforth Foundation. Distinguished by its collegiate gothic architecture, the 169-acre (0.68 km2) campus lies at the western boundary of Forest Park, partially in the City of St. Louis. Most of the campus is in a small enclave of unincorporated St. Louis County, while all the campus area south of Forsyth Boulevard is in suburban Clayton. Immediately to the north across Forest Park Parkway is University City.
Rutgers University–New Brunswick is one of three regional campuses of Rutgers University, New Jersey's public research university. It is located in New Brunswick and Piscataway. It is the oldest campus of the university, the others being in Camden and Newark. The campus is composed of several smaller campuses: College Avenue, Busch, Livingston,Cook, and Douglass, the latter two sometimes referred to as "Cook/Douglass", as they are adjacent to each other. Rutgers–New Brunswick also includes several buildings in downtown New Brunswick. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".
The Student Union of Valdosta State University serves as the social center of VSU and offers students a food court, bookstore, theater, game room, lounge space, and student organization offices.
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